{"id":261726,"date":"2024-05-06T12:00:07","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T11:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=261726"},"modified":"2024-07-02T08:49:35","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T07:49:35","slug":"campus-protests-press-freedom-and-palestine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/05\/campus-protests-press-freedom-and-palestine\/","title":{"rendered":"Campus Protests, Press Freedom and Palestine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Democracy NOW!<\/p><\/div>\n

2 May 2024 <\/em>– World Press Freedom Day comes this week amidst Gaza solidarity protests on campuses across the United States. In a democratic society, protests and the press are intimately linked. Desperate to clamp down on the growing movement, university administrations and police are increasingly restricting or outright banning the press from campus grounds. As protesters are subject to violent arrests, we need an independent press to hold those in power accountable, and to document this nationwide attempt to suppress free speech.<\/p>\n

And it goes beyond free speech. We need to hear students\u2019 voices, why they are risking suspension and expulsion and in all-too-many cases their personal safety, joining millions of people across the country who are deeply concerned about Israel\u2019s assault on Gaza, about the US providing the weapons for that attack, and about university investments in companies that profit from war. These student protests echo those against the Vietnam war in the 60s and 70s, and calls to divest from South African apartheid in the 70s and 80s.<\/p>\n

Weeks ago at Columbia University, the epicenter of the current movement, President Minouche Shafik called in the New York Police Department (NYPD<\/span>) which arrested over 100 students. She locked down the campus, preventing many journalists from covering the encampment. Soon after, the Columbia School of Journalism, or J-School, one of the most prominent in the world, stated on social media that they would facilitate access to journalists wanting to cover this important story, a clear challenge to university policy.<\/p>\n

Despite Shafik\u2019s efforts to quash the protest, another encampment grew. When she issued yet another ultimatum, students occupied Hamilton Hall, renaming it Hind\u2019s Hall, after a six-year-old girl brutally killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. Shafik again called in the NYPD<\/span> the next night. The police stormed the building and arrested another 100 students, inside and out.<\/p>\n

Gillian Goodman, a Columbia J-School student, was on campus that night. \u201cMyself and my colleagues at the Journalism School were pushed with police batons to our backs and corralled out of the space, so we were not able to witness the arrests head on,\u201d Gillian said on the Democracy Now! news hour.<\/a> \u201c[The police] were extremely clear and efficient that they were not to have any eyewitnesses, including the majority of press, during the time that the arrests were made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police threatened students if they stepped outside the J-School, based in Pulitzer Hall, they would be arrested.<\/p>\n

Across the country in Los Angeles, also on Tuesday night, the UCLA<\/span> Gaza solidarity encampment was physically attacked by a violent pro-Israel group. The LA Times reported that when the police finally arrived, they simply watched. The university\u2019s student paper, The Daily Bruin, wrote in an editorial<\/a> published hours later,<\/p>\n

\u201cIt began with ear-piercing screams of wailing babies loudly emitting from speakers. Counter-protesters tearing down the barricades. Laser pointers flashing into the encampment. People in masks waving strobe lights. Tear gas. Pepper spray. Violent beatings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaanth Kodialam Nanguneri, Bruin senior staff writer, who was there with three other Bruin reporters, described the scene on Democracy Now!:<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was about 2 or 3 a.m\u2026We had all spent hours being out there on the field reporting, sending messages to our editors, really scared about the scenes that we were seeing on campus towards the protesters in the encampment, the level of violence and vitriol that was in the air\u2026I personally witnessed a counter-protester slam a wooden slab onto an individual who had her hands on the barricade of the encampment and smashing her fingers, and listening to her scream.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pro-Israel vigilantes then accosted the four reporters:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were leaving and were vulnerable and were in a small group, we were encircled and attacked,\u201d Shaanth continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey started shining lights in our face, spraying us with very strong irritants, circling in particular one of my colleagues and physically harassing and violently assaulting her.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reporters managed to escape. One of them was briefly hospitalized.<\/p>\n

The Bruin\u2019s editorial addressed the UCLA<\/span> administration: \u201cThe world is watching. As helicopters fly over Royce Hall, we have a question. Will someone have to die on our campus tonight for you to intervene?\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the Pulitzer Prize Board issued a statement, \u201cto recognize the tireless efforts of student journalists across our nation\u2019s college campuses, who are covering protests and unrest in the face of great personal and academic risk\u2026In the spirit of press freedom, these students worked to document a major national news event under difficult and dangerous circumstances and at risk of arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this election year, with the likelihood of mass protests at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, let us remember: a free press is essential to the functioning of a democratic society.<\/p>\n

___________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Amy Goodman is the host of \u201c<\/em>Democracy Now!\u201d a daily international TV\/radio news hour airing on more than 900 stations in North America. She is the author of <\/em>Breaking the Sound Barrier, released in paperback and now a <\/em>New York Times best-seller.<\/em><\/p>\n

Denis Moynihan is the co-founder of <\/em>Democracy Now! Since 2002, he has participated in the organization\u2019s worldwide distribution, infrastructure development, and the coordination of complex live broadcasts from many continents. He lives in Denver where he is developing a new noncommercial community radio station.<\/em><\/p>\n

The original content of this program is licensed under a <\/em>Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 democracynow.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2 May 2024 – World Press Freedom Day comes this week amidst Gaza solidarity protests on campuses across the world. In this election year, with the likelihood of mass protests at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, let us remember: a free press is essential to the functioning of a democratic society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":65754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[276,609,1268,2376,125,87,865,88,427,1378,70,172,1025],"class_list":["post-261726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","tag-democracy","tag-demonstrations","tag-european-union","tag-freedom-of-speech","tag-freedom-of-the-press","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-israel","tag-palestine","tag-protests","tag-usa","tag-west","tag-west-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":261729,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261726\/revisions\/261729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}